By James McManus

The 29-year-old delivered a bustling display in the middle of the park against Real Madrid and feels that his side are finally starting to come good in European competition

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure believes that his side are gradually starting to realise their potential on the European stage, despite their narrow defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday evening.

Roberto Mancini's failed to make it out of a difficult group last season, which included finalists Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal. However, Toure thinks that giant strides have been made with their latest performance.

The Ivorian played a key role in City's battling display with a series of lung-bursting drives from midfield before setting up Edin Dzeko's opening goal on the break.

"It was not like group games I have played in before — it had the feel of a quarter-final or semi-final of the Champions League," he told reporters.

"And that’s where we want to be, so it was a fantastic game for us to be part of. For us this was a good test to see what level we are at and to see where we want to go.

"This shows City are continuing to improve and continuing to learn in Europe. We still have a lot of games to get the points we need.

"It’s really important that we do better than last year and get to the knockout stages. If we can it will prove we are developing as a European team."